Haiti Sinks Deeper Into Chaos
The Foyer Saint Camille in Port-au-Prince
Population fleeing, collapse of health care, Camillians barricaded inside the hospital of the capital: Agenzia Fides is closely following the evolution of the situation in Haiti and especially in its capital, Port au Prince, thanks to the information and reports given by religious men and women living on site.
In this way Fr. Erwan, missionary of the Camillian Ministers of the Infirm (MI), explains that “the gangs have more weapons every day and are becoming more cruel, we have barricaded ourselves in the hospital and hope that they do not attack us.”
“We cannot go out to buy food or medicine for the people who are with us, disabled children, the sick, relatives of hospital patients and the medical and nursing staff,” explains this religious from Port-au-Prince, where the tragedy continues to strike the population.
The missionary continues: “After we had paid ‘protection money,’ they allowed us to go out with the ambulance only once to buy 30 oxygen cylinders for the sick and for surgery. But the situation is becoming more dangerous every day,” emphasizes the Camillian, who is bursar of the Foyer St. Camillus and is present with his confrere, Fr. Robert, who is the director.”
“The ‘Foyer’ is located in La Plaine, in the municipality of Croix de Bouquet, north of the capital Port au Prince.” Another religious, Fr. Antonio Menegon, said, “I think of the tragedy that the Haitian people are experiencing, who are falling deeper and deeper into the abyss every day in midst of global indifference.”
He is distressed: “Nobody speaks about it, worse, nobody intervenes, and with the little we can do, we try to help the many Haitian people to live despite the silence around them.”
“Saving the lives of the Haitian people means continuing the resurrection of Jesus in daily life,” concludes the priest, who is responsible for the Camillian non-profit organization, Midian Horizons.
According to a UN report, more than 50,000 people have fled the capital in recent weeks, adding to the more than 100,000 refugees already present in southern Haiti.
Violence committed by armed gangs has pushed some 53,000 people out of the capital over the past three weeks, according to a report published Tuesday by the International Organization for Migration. More than half of them are heading towards the south of the country, where 116,000 people who fled earlier already live.
(Source : Agence Fides – FSSPX.Actualités)
Illustration : Centre Hospitalier Foyer Saint Camille
